When I made complaints to coaches and administrators at my daughter’s former school system about the stream of racial slurs made to my daughter (“chink”, “slant eyes”, “nigger lover”, and ” Commie”, to name a few), none of my complaints were taken seriously and no investigations initiated as required by Federal law. My wife did receive a call, though, after one of my complaints, from an assistant basketball coach and wife of the athletic director, questioning my sanity and “instructing” my wife that,”There is no racism going on at this school system.” And to make sure my wife received the message, the coach/AD’s wife asked a rhetorical question, “You understand what I am saying don’t you?”

It wasn’t until the Asian American Legal Defense and a Education Fund (AALDF), an outstanding civil rights group out of New York City, became involved (and their complaints were ignored for weeks until the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) was contacted and KDE specifically directed the school’s superintendent to conduct an immediate investigation into my and AALDEF’s complaints). Many weeks passed before the school district even made contact with AALDEF, and to this day continues to delay or block any attempt at resolving the issues, though investigations are ongoing with the U.S. Department of Education and Kentucky Commission on Human Rights.

It did not take long after the school board hired an attorney to begin a smear tactic against my daughter and me, which in a small town got back to me fairly quickly-comments such as: I was only trying to line my pockets with the school district’s limited budget because I am an attorney and that’s what attorneys do. I was going to sue all of the parents individually for the slurs “allegedly made by their children”. I wanted to destroy the name of the school district. Blah. Blah Blah. [In truth, I DID NOT FILE THE COMPLAINTS with the Department of Education and Department of Justice. AALDEF filed in their own name on behalf of my daughter after their many attempts to enter into negotiations with the school district were ignored or not taken seriously. Additionally, I was captain of my football team there, still use my number76 in my Twitter handle (terryclarke76) and gmail email address (terryclarke76@gmail.com) and my late father and two of my close cousins are in the high school’s Hall of Fame. In short, I had no interest in destroying the school’s reputation. In fact, as incredible as it appears, those associated with the school have openly questioned my motives that I was concerned with improving the climate of cultural tolerance in the schools within the school district though I am on my city’s Commission on Human Rights, and consciously made the choice not to sue the school for money damages.]

Why is still PC to make racist comments about Asian Americans?

The site linked below is a story a television station (WDRB) in Louisville filmed and posted in an article on its website. The sports reporter, Eric Crawford (who has an outstanding reputation as a national basketball reporter) came with a camera man and interviewed my daughter and me for hours after driving 3 hours to my home in the extreme Northeastern part of Kentucky where it touches Ohio and West Virginia. We only consented to two more interviews, one with an Asian American reporter I have always admired, who was the former host of NPR’s All Things Considered, and Mellisa Issacson of ESPN who wanted to seek my daughter’s opinion on bullying in the locker room of girls sports teams as the Richie Incognito–Jonathan Martin saga was unfolding. We turned down countless other interview requests because neither my daughter nor I wanted to bring attention to ourselves. A link to Ms. Issacson’s story on ESPNW story is also included below the link to WDRB’s Eric Crawford’s story.

This is the same school system which was placed on probation for openly cheating during the State’s regional Governor’s Cup competition. This is the same system whose supporters claimed that this school district was too “culturely sophisticated” for their students to ever utter a racial slur, not a single one, though my daughter was the only minority on her basketball team and it was her teammates who admitted they hated my daughter. Bear in mind the link at the beginning of this post was from an Asian American living in Kentucky’a second largest city (Lexington) and much more culturely diverse than my daughter’s former essentially all-white school located in the Appalachian area of the State (the hillbilly part). Despite the school district’s representatives claims that all of its schools “embraced diversity”, this school system has the reputation in the area as one of arrogance and intolerance. When the state’s ruling body on academic competitions issued a lifetime ban to the high school’s academic team coach from ever coaching in, or even attending, academic contests, the media asked the school’s principal if the cheater would be fired. The principal’s response, “Heck no. He made ONE mistake and they Pete Rose’d him.”

So . . . Does anyone actually find the Appalacian school district’s position credible that racial slurs against Asian American DO NOT OCCUR at their rural school when those slurs occur daily in the halls of the schools in the State’s urban areas?

Asian American students are the most bullied ethnic group in American schools

Like hundreds of others who are Asian American or are have strong ties to the Asian American community, I have written about self-proclaimed feminist Kathy Groob who tweeted that Senator Mitch McConnell’s wife Elaine Chao (former U.S. Secretary of Labor and Director of the Peace Corps) essentially could not be a Kentucky citizen because she’s Asian. Her logic would make my Asian American teenage daughter and Kentucky citizen non-existent, with her ridiculous rationale that having Asian ancestry and being a Kentucky citizen are mutually exclusive.

Again, I am a political moderate, clinging to my belief that neither party actually represents any position, other than that which would result in the election of their candidates.

With that disclaimer, I am linking to an article by a guest commentator, obviously a Republican, who nonetheless makes some valid points and asks some difficult questions which the Democratic Party has failed to answer.

This is an update to an earlier post on Liberal Feminist Kathy Groob’s racist tweets against Elaine Chao, the first Asian American female to serve on a U.S. President’s cabinet in American history. Former Secretary Chao has also served as director of the Peace Corps and president and CEO of United Way. Had Former Secretary Chao not looked “foreign” [translated–“didn’t look like an American should look”], Ms. Groob, as a self- designated Feminist would be shouting from the rooftops Ms. Chao’s many noteworty accomplishments.

Make no mistake, I am a political moderate who believes ALL American citizens deserve the same rights regardless of their physical ethnic or racial characteristics. Increasingly, I find myself both disappointed in and more alienated from both the Republican and Democratic parties.

Also make no mistake, I think Kathy Groob’s IQ (intellectual, social or otherwise) has risen into the double figure range by not only deleting her racist tweets (one of which is included below), but acting on the advice (of someone of at least slightly-below normal intelligence) to cancel her Twitter account (because given the ignorant, most racist tweets I have ever read, she clearly is without the mental acuity to realize that armed with a social media account, she was essentially a super-sized Jim Crow incapable of spewing anything other than ethnic and racial hatred with each stroke of her keyboard.

I have seen firsthand the collateral damage, up close and in person, (as the father of an Asian American daughter and Kentucky citizen–like Elaine Chao), the dehumanizing effect Ms. Groob’s vitriol has on people (like my daughter) “who do not” look American (whatever an American is supposed to look like). This suject is of such great interest to me because:

Being the recipient of ethnic and racial slurs and told she “doesn’t belong here”, my daughter’s self-confidence (critical to the survival of ANY teenage girl) has been severely impacted, making her feel like “she doesn’t belong and is unwanted in America”–which is the very essence of Ms. Groob’s message on the world’s social media stage. (My daughter, who is bright for her age, actually found the tweets before I did and suggested that she was beginning to understand why “the rest of the world hates America.”)

There are so few succesful Asian Americans celebrated in the American media for their many accomplishments that is difficult for an Asian American student to see the need (other than that based onpersonal pride–which their peers so frequently try to rip from them) to strive for greatness in America: (1) Self-proclaimed “Feminist” Kathy Groob rather than touting the sucess of an unquestionably successful female, who served as Secretary of Labor, director of the Peace Corps and CEO of the United Way, essetially belittles Ms. Chao’s many accomplishments because of her physical features and intimating that no matter how many generations back her ancestors have been American citizens, Elaine Chao “will never really be considerd a ‘real’ American citizen”, and (2) I love Jeremy Lin. He spent 30 minutes video-chatting one-on-one with my daughter discussing their shared experiences of dealing with hatred on the basketball court and encouraging hr not to descend to the level of the haters. [Jeremy’s mother, who had read about my daugher’s experiences in the Asian American press, called Jeremy while he was still in China and asked Jeremy to call my daughter and give her some advice] Even though Jeremy was listed as the number one ranked California basketball player his senior year in high school, he did not receive a single scholarship offer and has been the subject of racism and discriminatin while playing in the NBA. While I am not a fan of former NBA Commisioner David Stern, even he stated that Jeremy Lin’s lack of recognition and playing time in the NBA was, without question, based on the ridiculous myth that Asians cannot play basketball. Please keep an eye out for my daughter’s progress if you have any interest in seeing the folly of this unfounded myth that Asians can’t pay basketball.

The following is a link to an aticle summarizing the Kathy Groob “incident” from beginnimg to end:

‘. . . because [Kathy Groob] is desperate to prove a point. Ms. Groob might have well said, “Don’t elect McConnell because his wife is not one of us.”

Sometimes folks are afraid, especially self-designated, dyed-in-the-wool political operatives who have branded themselves as specialists in bolstering women in politics.

What does she see down the road?

A post-racial candidate?”

Kathy Groob: Your tweet insinuates my Asia American daughter, with her Kentucky citizenship, does not exist!

According to Feminist Kathy Groob, Elaine Chao will never be considered a”real American” because she has Asian features. This “national” attitude does dot bode well for my daughter’s future in America–if she chooses to remain here.

At least former NBA Commissioner David Stern attributed Jeremy Lin’s mistreatment and lack of playing time resulted rom discrimination.

Hours & Info

I am first and foremost a father to a wonderful Ethnic Kazakh teenage daughter, I am an environmental attorney, professor, Human Rights Commissioner, and deeply committed to ending racism (to the extent it is possible), eradicating bullying in our nation's schools and the teachers who turn a blind eye to the victims. In short, my goal is too make the world just a little better place with the time I have left. I have an interest in my daughter's Kazakh heritage, Central Asia and the countries of the former USSR. I am also a huge basketball fan and enjoy watching my 6', 158 pound daughter excel in basketball at the highest levels of amateur basketball with Kentucky Premier, a Nike sponsored travel team, competing in Nike EYBL (Elite Youth Basketball League) tournaments. You can contact me at terryclarke@outlook.com with ANY questions or comments about my interests or subjects you would like to se addressed on my blog. Also you can follow me on Twitter at terryclarke76 or Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/terryclarke76.